Is Find My Friends ever unreliable?

[Jooby2]

Sorry for sounding silly but I need confirmation that FMF only shows "location not available" when the user's phone is switched off, they have no coverage whatsoever, or have turned off their location services?
I don't trust my daughter's answer that "she doesn't know why it doesn't work sometimes" but I want to be certain before I DISCUSS it further!

Thanks

 

[Ledsteplin]

It won't show if their phone is powered off, or if their phone runs out of battery and needs charging. And it won't show if they don't have location on. It uses gps, so that has to be enabled. You could spot check her phone to see if location is enabled. Just take her phone and look.
If you know her Apple ID, you could use Find My iPhone as well. Just enter her Apple ID and password.

 

[Annie_M]

Hello and welcome to iMore. Here is a user's "how to" guide for Find my Friends from Apple Support. Hopefully, you will find this useful. Also, here is an article published here on iMore called "The Ultimate Guide to Parental Controls".

And finally, here's another article from Apple Support about setting up Parental Restrictions on Find My Friends.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Speaking from experience, when my son was in high school, GPS signal had a hard time penetrating the schools block wall, so most of the time when he was at school, I got location not available. Didn't really worry about it too much as all the other parents were dealing with the same things.

However, as the bill paying adult, I would take his phone at any given time and do a phone inspection. He had no choice in the matter. I suggest you do the same. And if they give you any flack about handing it over, then there's probably a reason for that.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Speaking from experience, when my son was in high school, GPS signal had a hard time penetrating the schools block wall, so most of the time when he was at school, I got location not available. Didn't really worry about it too much as all the other parents were dealing with the same things.

However, as the bill paying adult, I would take his phone at any given time and do a phone inspection. He had no choice in the matter. I suggest you do the same. And if they give you any flack about handing it over, then there's probably a reason for that.

Buildings with a lot of metal hurts all kinds of signals.

 

[Annie_M]

Buildings with a lot of metal hurts all kinds of signals.

This is true! One of our newer local Kroger (Grocery) Stores has been boasting about their new APP that helps with finding items and specials while in store. The only problem is that they don't have WiFi, and it's virtually impossible to get a signal even for those who have Verizon! It's so frustrating.

So you may want to keep this in mind!

 

[kataran]

Kids know how to circumvent some tracking apps they can easily turn off and then back on said services.

Best way to catch them is trial and error. If they say I don’t get a signal at so and so do a test of said location with someone you trust then you can call them on it

When I was a kid I would turn back the time on my watch so when I got home late I would show my dad my watch and get a beating anyway. Dad was smart

 

[wenrob]

Kids know how to circumvent some tracking apps they can easily turn off and then back on said services.

Best way to catch them is trial and error. If they say I don’t get a signal at so and so do a test of said location with someone you trust then you can call them on it

When I was a kid I would turn back the time on my watch so when I got home late I would show my dad my watch and get a beating anyway. Dad was smart

You can go into Screen Time and set it so they can’t change any settings and then set a password only you know.

 

[Annie_M]

One of my favorite episodes of Modern Family addresses this very issue!

 

[Ledsteplin]

One of my favorite episodes of Modern Family addresses this very issue!

Do you make your links look like that in TapaTalk? If so, how?

 

[Tartarus]

Do you make your links look like that in TapaTalk? If so, how?

It’s not easy, but if you looked closer when you quoted @Annie_8plus you would have seen the code.
Here is a screen shot

 

[Ledsteplin]

It’s not easy, but if you looked closer when you quoted @Annie_8plus you would have seen the code.
Here is a screen shot
//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190216/503e31a65392c4f183d4495d0a9d1e2c.jpg

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190216/f7f8e8d39e24000808d17b85b49e3cd3.jpg

Looks all jumbled. So how do you know what to change?

 

[Tartarus]

Looks all jumbled. So how do you know what to change?

After the = you put the website or link and after the first “]” you put your own text.

 

[Ledsteplin]

...

 

[Tartarus]

After the = you put the website or link and after the first “]” you put your own text.//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190216/0d2a9aa2b97e37aeba43b18284c047f7.jpg

Blue is the website url you want to link to and yellow is the personalized text.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Blue is the website url you want to link to and yellow is the personalized text.
//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190216/d5d94022c673788d3fdac392c4dc2bf4.jpg

When I post a link, I don't see the = or the "]".

 

[Tartarus]

When I post a link, I don't see the = or the "]".

Then don’t see it. Type it down exactly like this and post it.

 

[Ledsteplin]

TEST

 

[Tartarus]

https://abc.go.com/playlists/PL551273188/video/VDKA0_o6ya8vpo]test

Now go edit your post and type in exactly what I screen shotted.

 

[Tartarus]

TEST

Excellent